Upcoming video game releases: ‘Battleborn,’ ‘Stellaris,’ ‘The Park’

TOKYO, May 1 — Among upcoming video game releases for the week of May 3, Battleborn erupts in a raucous cacophony of colour, slo-mo action game Superhot offers an alternative to Quantum Break on Xbox One, sci-fi strategy Stellaris arrives on PC, and creepy amusement attraction story The Park lands on PS4 and Xbox One.

Battleborn

Available: May 3

For: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows PC

Thanks to its overwhelming visual similarities, it’s clear that this is the next outing for the studio behind the Borderlands franchise. But instead of just an off-kilter shooter, this is an off-kilter shooter that sets out to adapt the push-pull format of lucrative team-based eSports games Dota 2 and League of Legends.

Taking the concept of slow-motion, movie style “bullet time” a stage further, Superhot ties player movement to everything else’s movement. Stay still, and nothing happens. But get on your feet and enemies start closing in. Well received when released on Mac, Linux and PC in February.

The next big thing from strategy specialists Paradox of Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis fame, except this time we set sail for a sci-fi future in an ambitious title that, 18 months on from Civilisation: Beyond Earth and nearly two decades after Alpha Centauri could set a new high watermark for the genre.

Step into an amusement park as Lorraine, searching for lost son Callum, after the park’s gates have closed for the day, and discover the park’s chilling past in its jumpscare-laden environment. Released for Windows PC in October 2015.

A franchise closer for PlayStation’s standard-setting franchise, this final chapter sees quippy, quick-firing treasure hunter Nathan Drake coming out of retirement for one last job, thanks to the unexpected reappearance of his missing brother and a missing trove of pirate goodies.